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Can Ion Cyclotron Waves Propagate to the Ground?
Author(s) -
Johnson Jay R.,
Cheng C. Z.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl900074
Subject(s) - magnetosphere , physics , cyclotron , ionosphere , geophysics , amplitude , polarization (electrochemistry) , computational physics , cyclotron resonance , ion , plasma , optics , nuclear physics , chemistry , quantum mechanics
This paper demonstrates how ion cyclotron waves generated in the equatorial magnetosphere can propagate to the ground and resolves a discrepancy between theory and observation that has lasted over a decade. We present a full wave analysis for ion cyclotron waves propagating from the equatorial magnetosphere to the ground. Our analysis demonstrates that strong mode coupling occurs near the He + and O + resonance locations which allows the equatorial waves to penetrate to ionospheric altitudes with substantial amplitude and shifted polarization consistent with observational studies.